“If I say banana, close your eyes,” Aaron said. He wanted the oncoming confrontation to end peacefully, but he wasn’t naive. He would be an idiot if didn’t prepare some sort of contingency plan.

“Why?” Jessica asked.

Tony stepped over a piece of rubble. The tunnel had withstood the constant earthquakes well, but it had sustained some minor damage. It was mostly superficial - small cracks on the floor and fallen lightbulbs. “It’s a code word. Personally, I would have come up with something cooler like fettuccini, or linguini.”

Aaron opened his mouth to explain, but before he could get a word out, a loud shout cut him off.

“Hey! John, we got visitors,” a tall woman said while holding a knife in front of her to ward them off. Aaron’s eyes narrowed as he instantly recognized her. Sasha, the widow killer. She was infamous for going on a killing spree in Texas. Using untraceable poisons, she had murdered over forty men. It was only through sheer luck that the police had caught her. He quickly glanced above her head. He could see her do the same.

Rogue: level 4

He was double her level. Hunting the imps had paid off. It had given them a leg up against the competition. He ran through some quick calculations in his head. Even though her class was more physically focused, his Agility stat should be roughly equal to hers. Being a high level definitely had its perks.

After a moment of hesitation, Aaron stepped forward into the storage area with his hands up. “Relax, we just came here to talk.” Two burly men with burnt uniforms stepped out from behind a wooden crate, their steps barely making any sound. They were both only level 3 warriors, but just from the way they carried themselves, he could tell that they were dangerous. “I see you’ve been enjoying the place.”

One of the men shoveled a handful of raisin bran cereal into his mouth. “Moderately.” He placed the bag of cereal down on the floor. Good. Aaron nodded and took note of its position; he didn’t want it to get damaged in the coming fight. “I assume you didn’t come here without a reason.”

Aaron craned his neck and looked around the room, checking to see if anyone was hiding behind a crate. From a quick glance, he didn’t find anyone hiding. “Yes, this is pretty much the safest place on the island. We were wondering if you would let us camp out here for the night?” Jess and Tony looked at him in shock. They were likely not expecting a polite conversation.

He shrugged his shoulders. Talking was obviously the superior solution. If it worked out well, they could earn some new allies, and if they turned out to be disagreeable – well, he could always just slit their throats in the middle of the night.

“Why should we let you stay here?”

“Safety in numbers. You saw the monsters in the cafeteria. They’re too powerful to fight alone. We’ll have to team up to have any chance of beating them.”

Sasha laughed. “Hanging around these two is already driving me insane; I don’t want any more freeloaders.” The two brutish men nodded; they seemed to share the same sentiment.

Aaron laughed. “I understand. Before we go, could you answer some questions for me?”

Now that peaceful negotiations had failed, he entered his inner world of switches, and began preparing an attack. Letting Sasha and the two brutes hold control over the storage room wasn’t an option. Hidden within the crates was a veritable treasure trove of supplies. To walk away from the room would basically mean condemning himself to death. Even the strongest man couldn’t survive without food. Plus, he didn't have any reservations about stealing from basically the evilest criminals on the planet. “Did anyone else survive the initial surge of monsters?”

Sasha hummed as she tossed her knife into the air. It completed several lazy arcs then landed in her hand, handle first. “Maybe around half, not everyone was in the cafeteria, so I’m not sure.”

Mana Bolt fought against his influence as he rapidly searched for the last switch he needed to flip to make the combo work. He smiled; he had found it. “One last question, what do you think of bananas?”

He closed his eyes as an exceedingly bright ball of mana shot out of his hand as fast as a car. It impacted one of the brutes, doing little damage, but blinding him. He smiled; his theorized combination had worked. By lowering the skill’s damage, he was able to vastly improve another aspect of it. In this case, he had flipped up every switch relating to brightness he could find, turning the skill into a flashbang of sorts.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached level 13. 1 Skill Point Awarded.

He rushed forward to press his advantage. His mana pool was only about halfway full; he’d prefer ending the fight quickly. Behind him, Jess shot a barrage of Mana Bolt’s, and Tony charged one of the brutes. The brute swung his arm blindly through the air, searching for him. This is too easy.

As he closed the distance, he unleashed a series of Mana Bolts. They were unmodified, but they had evolved quite a bit since he had first got the skill. They were stronger, faster, and larger – better in every way.

The Mana Bolts hit the man, knocking the air out of him and cracking his bones. The warrior screamed as he locked his bloodshot eyes onto Aaron. The attack had hurt him – blood was dripping down his nose, but it had also served to give him clarity. His sense of sight had returned, and he was angry. He ducked, barely moving out of the way in time to avoid a knife skewering him.

“Sorry,” Jess screamed as she sent another round of Mana Bolts at the woman. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sasha dance out of the way of most of them.

The enemy's assault did not stop; the injured brute glowed red then rushed forward supernaturally quickly. All he could do was brace himself as the man slammed into him, sending them both to the ground in a heap of limbs. He twisted around, trying to get up, but a pair of large hands grabbed onto him, keeping him on the ground.

Aaron smiled. It didn’t matter where the fight took place; his stats gave him the advantage. He jerked his elbow down and smashed it onto the top of the man’s head. Something cracked beneath the strike. However, before he could finish the fight, the man glowed red and burst forward. The warrior smashed into him, using his body as a battering ram. He accelerated with such force that Aaron was smashed to the side and into the air. He flipped a few times then painfully landed on his back.

The second he landed, he lifted his hand up and fired a series of Mana Bolts at the warrior, keeping him away from his fallen form. However, his barrage of mana was stopped almost as soon as it started. He was forced to roll away as another knife cut into the ground an inch away from his face. Where was she getting so many knives? There’s no way she was carrying that many.

Aaron took a deep breath, then pulled himself to his feet. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted. The skill the man was using was powerful. It allowed him to briefly accelerate himself forward, but only in a straight line. It was like fighting a bull: as long as he got out of the way in time, he should win.

The other man smoothed out his orange jumpsuit. Blood dripped down the large man’s skull, and he panted for air. Even though he was injured, he looked like he could still fight. Aaron smiled; that didn’t mean he could fight at full capacity. He suspected that his earlier attacks had broken a few bones. He raised his hand and fired a continuous stream of Mana Bolts. Blue screens popped up, but he didn’t read them. Instead, he quickly forced them to the corner of his vision.

The man tried to dodge the balls, but they were too fast to avoid all of them. Eventually, the man gave up on dodging. He glowed red then burst forward, using the same skill that had caught Aaron by surprise two times in a row. However, this time he was prepared. The second he noticed the red glow, he threw himself to the side.

The brute’s charge ended with him hitting nothing as he stumbled to a stop. For his effort, he was rewarded with a Mana Bolt to the back. With a loud crack, a rib broke beneath the power of the skill.

The man screamed as he turned around, immediately activating the skill once again. “I’ll kill you.”

The man charged towards him like a freight train. From his position on the ground, it would be impossible to dodge, so instead, he clenched his jaw and shot a volley of Mana Bolt’s at the man. The man coughed up a mouthful of blood and continued his charge. Like a linebacker, he slammed into Aaron, pinning him to the ground.

Aaron fought back a groan of pain. Getting run over by a man who weighed more than two hundred pounds wasn’t very fun. The subsequent punch to the face was even less fun. Aaron covered his head, but it was too late; the damage had already been done. His glasses had been smashed to pieces. However, instead of the mess of blurry colors, he was expecting, he could see with perfect clarity. That’s new.

He shifted his head to the side, letting the brute smash his fist into the concrete. The situation was disadvantageous, but he wasn’t worried. A Mage was arguably most dangerous at close range.

He snuck one arm around to the man’s side and activated Mana Bolt at point-blank range; nothing happened. The skill refused to activate. His heart skipped a beat. Now he was concerned. He tried to use the skill again, but it failed. It felt like there was a brick wall of force surrounding, the brute that dissipated his skill before he could even activate it.

Shit. The brute slipped past his guard and delivered another large punch to his face. If he wanted to win, he would have to fight dirty. Using his enhanced memory, he located where he had broken the man’s rib cage. He then slammed his fist into the fractured bone.

The warrior howled in pain as he jerked back, his face a contoured mess of pain. Now that the man was farther away from him, something changed, and he was once again able to use his magic. He quickly entered the world of switches and ran through a combination he had practiced. He muttered to himself as he worked: Size, stability, and delayed-release. The skill fought desperately against his influence, sending javelins of mental force into his brain. He grimaced but persevered. This was the limit of his current capabilities.

Three seconds later, his mana levels dropped precariously, and a basketball-sized ball of mana formed in his hand. As a consequence of how much power he had added to the skill, its mana cost had risen sharply.

By this time the brute had regained his composure. Even though he did a good job of hiding it, he could tell the man was on his last legs. A countless amount of bones had broken in the large man’s body. Even still, the man could fight; he was strong. The air hung heavy as they regarded each other, preparing for one last attack. At some unknown signal, a red glow surrounded the warrior, and he charged forward. This time Aaron didn’t dodge.

He had prepared this attack to deal with overwhelming physical obstacles. It was time to put it to the test. He swung the modified Mana Bolt forward like a baseball bat. The brute’s eyes widened in surprise, but it was too late for him to dodge. The two forces clashed in a series of chaotic sparks. Then with a lightning-like crackle, the mana Bolt prevailed, cutting through his red aura and grinding into the man’s chest.

The ball of mana stayed solid for a moment as it caved in the warrior’s chest. Then with a burst of force, it exploded into small motes of blue energy, blowing a large hole in the man’s chest in the process. Like a puppet with its strings cut, he collapsed to the floor, dead.

Aaron shook out his hand. The skill had taken a lot out of him. Not to mention the backlash it imparted onto his hand. It was torn and raw. Once the adrenaline from fighting died down, it would be impossible to move it without severe pain.

He glanced around the room. Tony had somehow killed the other warrior, and Jess had cornered the rogue. They had almost won.

“Wait! Stop! I surrender,” Sasha, the widow killer said. She dropped to her knees and let her knife clatter to the ground.

Jess’s mouth hung open in shock. “You surrender? I don’t think this is how this works. You stabbed me in the arm!” She pointed to a large red patch on her uniform.

Sasha grimaced. “Well, to be fair, you were also trying to kill me.”

“She has a good point,” Tony said. He meandered over and offered her a hand, helping her to her feet. “It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if we killed her after she surrendered.” She moved to walk away, but Tony held onto her hand, keeping her locked in place. “One last question: do you regret what you did?”

Her eyebrows creased. “What do you mean?”

“Do you regret killing all those people in Texas?”

Several emotions flashed across Sasha’s face. He could practically see her weighing what option would give her the highest chances of survival.

Before she could answer, Jess interjected. “Don’t go acting all high and mighty, old man. Haven’t you killed like a thousand people?”

“That was in the past.”

Sasha coughed awkwardly, then answered. “Yes, of course, I regret it. Not a day goes by where I don’t regret what I did. Killing is wrong. I swear on my life, I’ll never do it again.”

Aaron sighed; he had never heard a more obvious lie. He knew for a fact that if he let her go, she would come back in the middle of the night and kill them. It’s what any minorly vindictive serial killer would do.

Tony somehow didn’t hear the lie or didn’t care enough to catch it. “Good enough for me. She deserves a second chance.” He let go of her hand and turned his back to her. Without a second’s hesitation, she pulled out a blade from within her jumpsuit. Before she could move an inch, Aaron had hit her with a barrage of Mana Bolts. For once his attack had been accurate, all of them landed on various vital points. She collapsed to the floor and promptly died.

Jess shot him a grin. He shrugged; it was easy to react quickly when he had been expecting Sasha to betray them the whole time.

Tony crouched down and plucked the knife out of her hand. “Everyone deserves a second chance, but three chances are a bit too many.” The room was silent for a moment as they each read over their system notifications.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached level 14. 1 Skill Point Awarded. Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached level 15. 1 Skill Point Awarded. Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached level 16. 1 Skill Point Awarded. Level 4 Human Rogue Slain! 200 Exp Gained.

Level 3 Human Warrior Slain! 150 Exp Gained.

He had gained a crazy amount of skill levels and about half a level’s worth of exp. However, the last blue screen put a damper on his excitement. The fact that humans awarded double Exp when killed was troubling. It was never a good sign when bad people were rewarded. A spear of fear struck him. What if some psycho targets my family? No one would be there to protect them.

His negative outlook didn’t end there. He wasn’t happy about his performance in the fight. The metamagic combinations had worked, but they were too slow to be truly effective. Also, his lack of defensive options was a major downside. As it was now, enemies could just blitz him, and he would be at a serious disadvantage. A skill like Mana Barrier would be highly useful in creating space.

On the bright side, he had learned how one of the warrior class’s skills worked. With this knowledge, he would be able to more easily beat them in the future. Not being able to stop the charge once it was initiated was a major disadvantage.

“So, who’s going to carry the bodies out of here,” Jess said awkwardly. The bodies slowly leaked blood onto the floor, stinking up the room. Aaron did not volunteer.